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Alonso: "I'm in the title fight"

Ferrari F1 driver Fernando Alonso has warned his rivals that the team is set to make giant strides in pace over the next few races. The former champion has not won since the Bahrain season-opener, but is still fourth in the drivers' championship, just 15 points off leader Lewis Hamilton.

Now Ferrari is preparing to introduce significant upgrades for Valencia, which is understood to include a new exhaust system that will improve airflow over the rear aerodynamics. Alonso reckons this step will put Ferrari back in contention.

"We will have major updates on the F10 which I hope will allow us to up our performance level," said Alonso.

"Following on from that, we have further developments in the pipeline which should arrive for England and Germany: which is to say that the European Grand Prix is simply the ninth round of the championship, not a last ditch effort for Ferrari, which I heard some people saying.

"I don't see how they can say that given that we have not even reached the halfway point of the season and that after Valencia there will still be ten grands prix to go. I've said it before and I'll say it again now, this is a stage event and the final one of those stages will not come until November in Abu Dhabi. There is still a long way to go and things can change very quickly, going either one way or the other."